Magnum Blog / Remembering My Uncle Chim

Remembering My Uncle Chim

Chim was my kind caring uncle, who brought gifts of books and took photos of me and my family. My mother, Eileen Shneiderman, was his older sister, and she loved him dearly. Chim’s untimely death at age 45 during the Suez Crisis in 1956 was a tragic event in our home that as a 9-year old I remember well. My mother devoted her life to her brother’s legacy, helping with the founding of ICP, and promoting his work wherever possible, until she died at age 96, just two years ago. With my sister, I have had the privilege, responsibility, and pleasure of taking care of Chim’s archives, working with Magnum, and donating his vintage prints to ICP and other major museums that exhibit his work. It is inspiring to see how much the Magnum community treasures their founders and satisfying to find museum curators and photo scholars who are eager to become part of Chim’s still growing family of admirers. Chim’s work is special because of his unique gentle personality. He had a remarkable capacity to engage with his subjects and make them partners in telling their story. If you look at many of Chim’s photos and ask yourself what happened in the 2 minutes before the photo you will repeatedly discover that there must have been a bond of friendship and a relationship of trust. This style occasionally occurs in the work of Chim’s close colleagues Henri Cartier Bresson and Robert Capa, but one of Magnum’s strengths was the diversity of its founders. Henri wanted to be invisible, and Capa was devoted to being close enough to capture the action.

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© David Seymour/Magnum Photos Chim’s style was to get close enough emotionally, a style the resonates through the work of Susan Meiselas and other Magnum photographers. Michael Kimmelman enthusiastically reviewed the 1996 ICP exhibit in the New York Times with these words: "Chim was a dreamer, and along with Capa and Cartier-Bresson, one of the heroic and pioneering liberal photojournalists who thought he could actually improve the world by showing people what was going on in it."

Terry Carroll

This is a beautiful tribute to a talented yet non-egotistical individual. Magnum, especially in its first decade, was an institution of big personalities. Even non-photographers know the names of Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Elliott Erwitt. But the man known as "Chim" (quite unlike the woman known as "Cher") remained modest and let his work speak for itself. Of particular sweetness and pathos are his photos of the children of post-War Europe (go to his full portfolio for better viewing). Despite their misery, injury, and despair, one can see in the faces of those children a moment of comfort in the presence of a photographer who recognizes their individuality and innocence. And, like a mirror, one can see Chim's generous personality by the very act of not putting his personality first. That's when photojournalism becomes art -- when the photographer shows him or herself by the very act of not trying.

LwS

Wonderful post - very revealing about the life and connections of the original founders of Magnum, beautifully illustrated. Thank you.

abbas

chim is the gentle uncle we would all loved to have known at magnum, but unfortunately many of us did not... i hope the forthcoming book and exhibition would do justice to his work

Peter

All I can say is that his photograph of a disturbed girl in the immediate post-WWII years portraying 'home' brought me to tears.

Felsefe

thanks for article.

karam mishalani

There are many brothers of uncle Chim of all ethnicitys and on all sides of political conflicts.Thank you for for reminding me of my uncle who as well as being a gentle and thoughtful man , was a photographer as well.

Michelle vignes

Thank you for bringing back to me all those memories about Chim.
I worked in the Paris office of Magnum in the early days of the "gypsy factory" as Ernst Haas used to say, and right after Capa's death we were in a mess. We had lost the soul of Magnum. Everyone wanted to lead Magnum...and didn't want to, really. Happily Chim with his analytical and precise mind saved us by taking the lead temporarily.

David Schermerhorn

Dr. Shneiderman
It was a thrill to meet you at the Show this weekend at the de Young Museum in San Francisco.
Your lecture was charming, informative and respectful. Thank you very much.
Michelle Vignes
We were looking for you at the de Young, but in vain. Sorry. I became engaged at length,with a gentleman who was taking a lot of pictures during the Walk-through, about your book "Oakland Blues". It is a book that I cherish.

David Schermerhorn